In her keenly awaited speech on Brexit in Florence on Friday 22 September, UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to propose a solution on the budget balance – the so-called divorce bill – when the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
May is expected to suggest paying at least €20 billion to settle the bill the UK will have to pay on leaving the EU, British daily The Financial Times reports on Wednesday 20 September. Progress on this part of the talks would, says the UK prime minister, allow the negotiations to move to the next phase: future relations, including trade, between the two parties.
Olly Robbins, May’s EU adviser, has apparently informed his counterparts in the various European capitals of this offer, according to unnamed sources quoted by the newspaper, and the announcement will come formally from May in Florence on Friday. On Wednesday, the Commission did not wish to comment on the article, with a fresh round of talks due to begin on Monday 25 September.
The EU has never given any figures but estimates of a divorce bill of somewhere between €60 and €100 billion have been circulating. EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier has, however, several times explained how the EU planned to calculate the amount.
The UK’s net contribution to the 2015 EU budget was €10.75 billion, according to European Commission and European Parliament documents, AFP has reported.
Therefore, the sum of €20 billion would be what is owed by the United Kingdom to settle its commitment to the EU budget, which is adopted for a period of seven years and which runs until 2020. The Commission has pointed out that the UK’s commitments go beyond the effective date of its withdrawal from the EU.
Donald Tusk in London on 26 September. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted on the evening of Tuesday 19 September that he would travel to London on Tuesday 26 September for Brexit talks with May, with a view to preparing the October European Council at which progress made in the negotiations will be assessed.
An “Article 50” General Affairs Council will take place in Brussels on Monday 25 September and will also to take stock of progress and to prepare the European Council. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)